The misadventure of a Necromancer
by Skyggedrage
Summary: Everywhere Gandalf looked chaos was unfolding from the deep hatred the two armies of dead had for each other. A man with rotting flesh slowly falling off his face, tried to run his sword through the stomach of his opponent, but the blade met no resistance, as the only thing remaining of his enemy was the pitiful leftovers of his soul. In the middle of the battle stood a thin boy.
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place between the first Hobbit movie and the second, and around a year after BoO**

Thirteen dwarves, a hobbit and a wizard were making their way towards the misty mountains, to retrieve the Arken stone and take back their home, when they encountered something very strange.

Gandalf the Grey was guiding the Oaken Shield party through a sunny green forest, and their spirits were high. Bilbo the hobbit was chatting away with the bothers Fili and Kili, and a merry song could be heard from the back of their line. Even Thorin seemed less grumpy then usual as he debated their route with the white-bearded Balin. Gandalf himself was happily smoking his pipe and amused himself by making the smoke take shapes.

They had been walking for a few hours, when he suddenly felt a change in the air. The warm late summer day was getting colder, and a darkness that shouldn't have been possible this early in the day settled over them. All the animals that had surrounded them before was now gone. There were no small animals running on the forest floor, and no birds left singing in the trees. The good mood that had surrounded the party before had vanished.

The old wizard cautiously advanced down the road while telling the rest of his group to stay back. As the old man slowly crept forwards he could feel the air getting colder and damper. Soon after his breath began to turn visible in small white clouds, that was out of place in the late summer day. The sound of steel against steel could be heard like a distance music.

Gandalf followed the road until the trees gave away and a clearing came into view. The sun casted a cold uncaring light on the unholy sight that was played out right in front of him on the barren plane.

Ghost, skeletons and undead was fighting a battle that should have been settled hundreds of years ago. The smell of rot hit him almost as hard as a wall. Everywhere Gandalf looked chaos was unfolding from the deep hatred the two armies of dead had for each other. A man with rotting flesh slowly falling off his face, tried to run his sword through the stomach of his opponent, but the blade met no resistance, as the only thing remaining of his enemy was the pitiful leftovers of his soul. Another place on the battlefield two skeletons was hacking each other to pieces. They hit each other again and again with their rusting weapons, never stopping as they no longer felt the pain of their wounds. Hundreds of people fighting in a never-ending battle as no side could win. In the middle of the it all stood a thin man. He was swaying and holding his head, and his mouth moved as if he was praying.

Gandalf was too far away to hear what he was saying, and he did not dare to go through the hordes of undead to get to the man.

Suddenly his voice rang clear above all the fighting.

"STOP!"

It was a single word, but the effect was immediate. Everything went quiet and the undead stood still as if frozen by the man's command. He slowly lifted his head, and Gandalf saw that he was barely more than a child, not yet able to grow a beard. The boy looked around at the gathered undeads and tiredly told them. "Your fight was over a long time ago. Find rest, please."

The dead stared at him and each other for a long time, as if they didn't quite understand what it was, he told them. The first sword to hit the ground broke the trance and shortly after it was followed by a hundred more weapons. Slowly the ghost started to vanish, and the dead crawled back into the holes they had come from. Soon only one figure was left standing on the battlefield. The black clad boy who single handedly had stopped a centuries old feud. Gandalf marveled at his power and feared what was next. Was he going to attack? The wizard prepared for the worst and almost didn't believe his eyes when the figure finally did move. The boy's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fainted where he stood.

A few minutes past before Gandalf found his courage to move into the clearing. Making his way through the dead grass and rusted swords he wondered what he should do. He stopped next to the unconscious stranger.

"What was that?" a scared voice asked behind him.

Gandalf turned around and saw, much to his disappointment, that the dwarves and their burglar had followed him, against his orders.

"That Mr. Baggins, was the work of a necromancer." The gruff voice of Thorin explained.

"But he's so young." The hobbit said wide eyed.

"Don't let that fool you Bilbo. A powerful mage can take any appearance they want."

"What should we do with him then?"

"Kill him while he is out." Dwalin was quick to say, always one to suggest violence as a solution. He already had his axe out, ready to strike if necessary.

"We can't kill him. Look at him he's a child!" Bilbo exclaimed outraged while gesturing wildly to the small creature on the ground.

"Did you not hear what Gandalf said, it could be a monster taking the form of a child to gain your sympathy!"

The dwarves were getting hot headed as they disgusted whether they could kill a monster that looked like a child.

The Grey wizard took the dilemma away from them with a single sentence.

"We cannot kill him yet. Tie him up, he may know something of value to us. And don't touch any of his things!"

A long time passed before their prisoner started to move. He tried to sit up but found that his hands and feet was bound behind his back, and his eyes widened in shock. The boy rolled to his knees and sat up since that was all the moment his bindings allowed him.

Bilbo nearly had a fit when he saw the necromancer looking at him.

"Gandalf!" He yelled without taking his eyes of their prisoner.

The old wizard rose from the stone he had been sitting on, while smoking his pipe, and walked quickly over to the panicking hobbit.

The wizard felt conflicted at the scene he arrived to. The necromancer only gave him a fleeting glance before he continued to look frantically around. He looked so much like a scared child that it was hard to believe that he was a master of the dark arts. And it was even harder to leave him tied up. Gandalf shook this traitorous feeling away. It was clearly for this purpose that the creature had chosen to look like a child.

"So, you're finally awake." Gandalf said coldly.

The necromancer barely seemed to have heard him. He was still looking around but was slowly realizing that what he was searching for wasn't here.

He finally turned his attention to Gandalf and the dwarves that were gathering around him. He barely reached Gandalf's hips as he sat on his knees in the dirt. He was very thin, and it felt queer to fear someone so small. He looked so much like a real child. It was an excellent illusion down to every last detail. Only his eyes betrayed his true form. They were pitch black and shone with a madness only dark magic could have caused. The monster in disguise opened his mouth and Gandalf prepared himself for a curse. The dwarves moved around with nervous energy and gripped their weapons tighter. You could cut the tension with a knife.

"Where's Will?!"

The question left them all dumbfounded. A few seconds passed before Gandalf carefully asked, "Who's Will?"

"The guy that was with me. Where is he?!" The necromancer looked close to panicking and the urgency in his voice told them all clearly that this was something important to their prisoner. Gandalf quickly used this information to their advantage, he was, after all, not called "The wise" for nothing.

"I will tell you that after you have answered our questions. Who are you and what is your true face?"

The question was so strange that the dark-haired boy forgot to look hostile for a moment. His mouth was hanging slightly open while he processed the words.

"My true face? What? I don't have any other face then this." the boy said clearly confused. He was, Gandalf decided, a very good actor. It was a shame that he had chosen the dark magic instead of theater.

"Your illusion necromancer, shred it and show us who you truly are!"

"I don't have any illusions on me."

"If you do not wish to oblige then I will have to use force. And I warn you, it will not be pleasant."

Gandalf waited a few seconds to see it the prisoner would give in to the threat, but the boy rolled his eyes and softly muttered. "Of course it won't."

The old man's anger flared up and he slammed his staff into the ground and yelled.

"Reveal yourself!"

The boy was lifted by an invisible force and slammed into a tree. The force swirl around him and it was strong as a hurricane with just as little mercy as one. It felt as is a hundred tiny fingers with sharp nails was trying to rip is skin from his face and every other part of his body. Small cut started to appear where the skin was being pulled apart and blood painted the ground beneath him.

"Stop it! I told you I don't have any other faces. I am not using any illusions!"

The Grey wizard didn't listen and repeated his command with newfound tenancy. The necromancer screamed in pain.

"If you're going to kill me then kill me, but I cannot show you something I don't have!" The boy was getting desperate, but Gandalf was deaf to his please and let the magic rage on.

The spell was slowly draining him, but the necromancer still uphold his illusion. The screams were getting louder and tears were leaving trails through the blood on the boy's face.

"WILL! WIIIIILL!" he screamed while trashing against the force that trapped him. Gandalf was starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't acting and the terrible realization that he could be torturing a child hit him.

The force stopped just as suddenly as it started, and the prisoner hit the ground with a soft thump. His breathing came in fast ragged breaths while he tried to control his racing heart.

Gandalf kneeled beside the laying boy, and carefully studied his bloodied face. He was young and pale with dark bags under his eyes. His black eyes were like an abyss trying to suck him into the madness and at the moment they were glaring right at him, burning with anger and hatred. But they also very clearly displayed fear.

"How old are you?"

"What's it to you?" came a biting replied. It was a wonder that he could show so much resentment while he was terrified.

"You are not in a position where you can afford to be insulant. We can, after all, kill you very easily at the moment. Now tell me, how old are you?"

The boy seemed to have bitten something sour and made a face before he answered.

"Fifteen."

Surprised mummers aroused behind him and the boy's eyes darted around, and he looked closer to panicking that he already was, when he saw how many there were of them. All thirteen dwarves and the hobbit had come to see the interrogation.

"So young… How can you be a necromancer? Who thought you the dark arts of necromancy?!"

"The ghost of Mideas. I'll tell you everything you want to know, just please let me see Will. I need to know that he's okay."

Gandalf took pity on the fanatic creature and told him gravely.

"You were alone when we found you."

The dark-haired searched the wizards face for any sign of deception, but he must have found the truth in Gandalf's word, and he seemed to fall to pieces in the realization that his companion wasn't here.

"Shit"

Thorin had in the meanwhile, had enough of talking and drew his sword while walking purposefully over to the bound child.

"Give us one good reason why we shouldn't kill you Necromancer!"

The boy shrank away from the furious king and tried to look as least threatening as possible.

"Look I just want to find Will and go home. I don't want any trouble."

"Monsters like you doesn't have a place to call home." Thorin said.

"I have a home!"

"You don't even know what a home is. A man who meddles with the dead does not belong anywhere!"

Thorin's words hit a sore spot and the prisoner's meek demeanor changed like the wind and gave away to fury. He looked even madder than before and started to fight against the restrain viciously.

"Fuck you! You don't know anything about me! I have a place where I belong, a home where people like me and accept me. I have more than one. Camp Jupiter will always welcome me and so will Sally. Even my father has a place for me! That's more then I think you can say, you look like you have been wandering for years." The temperature lowered to the point where their breath became visible in the air. The grass around the boy withered in a perfect circle that quickly grew bigger and came closer to them. Gandalf knew he had to find a way to calm down the necromancer before the situation got dire.

Thorin, however, felt none of this and lifted his sword to strike the boy, who now stared defiantly back instead of cowering away. "Yeah com'on run me through and show everyone who the real monster here is."

Thorin snared and struck the boy across the face with the back of his hand. The blow sent the necromancer tumbling to the ground with blood dripping out of his mouth and nose. The dwarf king raised his sword in both his hands and pointed the blade at the necromancer's throat. The young boy laid on his back and stared up at the dwarf towering over him with hatred burning in his eyes. He could however not hide his shaking hands and the tears running down his cheeks.

Gandalf had to cut in. "Thorin" he said warningly.

"This creature brings us all in danger by being here!"

"We need to know what he knows Thorin"

The necromancer cut them off before they could argue more.

"Look, I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you don't kill me. I swear it."

Gandalf stroke his beard thoughtfully. It was quite a dilemma he found himself in. He could, on one hand, not with a good conscious kill a child, but he could, on the other hand, not let a creature of darkness wander around. He had to figure out if there was still anything left in the boy's soul worth saving.

"Have may have you killed with your dark magic?"

The young necromancer looked away.

"Just one, last year, but I promised a friend that I would never do it again."

"Is it this friend that you're looking for?"

"No." Gandalf raised one brow at the short answer and the necromancer reluctantly continued. "I'm looking for Will. A guy my age with blond hair and blue eyes." He sounded a little hopeful that they perhaps had seen him after all.

"And who or what is this Will?"

"Will's my… Will's my friend, and he's human."

"Is he like you?"

The boy smiled for the first time. It was just a small smile, and it would have changed his face completely had he not been covered in blood. The madness in his eyes did dulled a little.

"No, we're completely different. You could say we're like night and day." The boy smirked a little at his world play before he continued. "He's a healer."

"A healer and a necromancer. That is an unorthodox pair." Gandalf slowly rouse from his place beside the prisoner. "I need time to think. Clean his wounds in the mean while and set up camp. We're staying here until tomorrow." The wizard picked up his staff and started to walk away. Thorin angrily called after him, while he tried to catch up to the long-legged man. The old dwarf Balin looked after them worried, before he turned to the smallest member of the party.

"You know how to clean a wound, right master Baggins?"

The hobbit stuttered a little.

"I-I suppose I do." He did at least know the basics of it.

"Good." The old dwarf smiled and handed the stunned hobbit the medical bag, before he too turned and went after the wizard. The rest of the party was also disbanding as the dwarves slowly started their tasks. Soon only Bilbo and the bound necromancer were left.

Bilbo carefully stepped closer to the child afraid that he would be attack if he made a sudden movement. It was a silly fear since the prisoner was bound tightly. So tightly in fact that it was bruising his wrists.

The hobbit sat down and started to wet a cloth with a strong-smelling alcohol. He reached out towards the boy's face with a shaking hand. Bilbo would later deny the very high pitch sound he made, when the small boy unexpectedly flinched away from his touch.

"Sorry." Bilbo quickly apologized, thinking it was the alcohol that had stung the boy. He dried his sweating hands nervously in his pants before he tried again.

"This is going to hurt a little, but it has to be done, alright?"

The boy nodded tiredly but didn't say anything.

Bilbo slowly started the process of washing away the blood and cleaning the long cuts in the skin. It was a gruesome sight and he tried to distract himself from his work with small talk.

"Soo why did you become a necromancer?"

The boy creaked open one eye and looked at the hobbit weirdly, which was understandable.

"Turned out that I didn't have a talent for woodcarving, so I had to do the next best thing."

Bilbo let out a nervous chuckle at what he hoped was a joke, and let the failed conversation die out. They sat in silence for a short while before the boy hoarsely said;

"You're doing it wrong."

Bilbo blinked a few times before he confused let out a "Sorry?"

"Cleaning the wounds." The necromancer clarified. "You're doing it wrong. Right now, you're just pressing dirt and blood into my wounds, and wasting your disinfection. Boil some water first and clean with that, then use the disinfection."

"Disinfection?"

"The liquid you're basically trying to drown me in." came a sarcastic reply. The young man had a lot of attitude, especially for someone tied up, Bilbo though, but he did get up and to fetch some water and get a fire started.

The boy looked to be asleep when Bilbo was finally was finessed with the last wound. They hadn't talked more, but it didn't bother the hobbit any longer. It was after all hard to see the sarcastic, tired child as something dangerous, something to feared. He reminded him a little of his nephew back home, with his small frame and dark hair.

Bilbo was pulled from his musings by the sound of people nearing. Gandalf was making his way over with an angry looking Thorin in tow. The boy sat up abruptly and Bilbo nearly had a heart attack. He was sure he had been asleep.

Gandalf leaned on his staff and looked down on the glaring child. It seemed his face was stuck making that expression.

"We have come to a decision necromancer..."

"Will you stop calling me that!" The boy nearly yelled at them. "My name is Nico Di Angelo."

Gandalf fixed the child with a cold stare before continuing as if he hadn't been interrupted.

"You are coming with us until we find a place that can keep you contained. A place where you can not do any more harm."

**Poor Nico he always gets the most abuse. **

**So, this is my newest story. I have worked a long time on it, so I hope there are some who likes it. If anyone is reading this then please leave a review and tell me what you think. What was good and what could have been better? English is not my first language so please excuse any errors you find. **


	2. Chapter 2

Nico sat next to the campfire and watched the strangers move about. His hands were tied tightly together in front of him, but at least it wasn't behind his back anymore, this gave him a bit more freedom. He had to count the small mercies. They left his feet unbound, but a new rope was tied around his neck and connected him to a rough looking dwarf with tattoos on his shaved head. He looked like he couldn't wait for Nico to misbehave so he could yank the leash and suffocate him. It was ridiculous how scared of him they were. They were all watching his every move like he was some kind of dangerous animal.

The dwarves were all silence as they tried to comprehend the day's events. It was apparently not normal for them to find kid necromancers, and they were still figuring out what to do with their new dilemma. Nico sat with his own dilemma and wondered how he best could solve it. He decided it would be best just to try and voice it to this group of strangers.

"I want to look for Will." Nico said, breaking the quiet evening atmosphere. "In the fields where you found me."

His dwarf guard laughed at this. "Forget it boy. We're not letting you out of our sight."

"Then come with me, if you're so scared of me running away."

"We are not going anywhere this evening."

Nico clenched his fist and snared "I can make this journey very difficult for you if you don't let me look for Will. I'll fight you every turn of the way, every day."

"Try making any trouble and I will kill you." The dwarf warned in a dangerous low voice.

"No you won't." Nico smirked mockingly "You have been ordered not to. Rasputin over there is too softhearted to let anyone here kill a kid."

"You assume much necromancer." The dwarf growled.

It looked like a fight was about to start again, and Nico was not sure that he had enough energy to shadowtravel away. But he be damned if he let them walk all over him again.

"Go with him to look Dwalin." The wizard told the raging dwarf and successfully averted the fight. The tall man stroked his beard. "It would be best to find his friend, if he is around here somewhere. We do not want him lurking around."

The dwarf or Dwalin as the man called him turn red in anger but he did not argue. Instead he just rose without a word.

Nico stood in the middle of the field and scouted for any sign at all that Will had been here. The setting sun bathed the whole clearing in a firery red, but it was quickly giving away to the night. It would soon be too dark to see anything, and Nico knew he had to hurry, if he wanted to find anything. The grass was not that tall, and the ground was a little soft, so it shouldn't be that difficult to find a clue. But there where nothing at all. Nico felt like punching something (Like his capture). The grass was writhered and dead in a perfect circle around him, and he knew this was were he landed in this strange world. So it would be here any connecting to home would be, but there was still nothing. Nico was slowly losing hope when something caught his eye. There a few feet away from the circle! Nico moved to fast for the dwarf to register it, which made him stumble and drop the rope. But Nico didn't notice that at all. All his focus was on the thing on the ground. It was Will's medic satchel. Nico picked it up with so much care that one would think it was made of glass. It was a sturdy but well-worn bag with many signs of its constant use. Will did after all never leave camp without it. So for it to be here without its owner meant something must be wrong. Nico felt dread overtake his body and one thought rang through his head. _**Will was in danger. **_

"WILL!" Nico screamed his name on top of his lungs. Hoping against hope that Will could somehow hear him. "WIIIILL"

Nico took a breath and prepared to call out again when he suddenly was pulled by the neck so hard, he fell to the ground headfirst. He collided painfully on the back of his scull and stares clouded his vision. A high pitch ringing started but he could still hear Dwalin yelling on top of it.

"What do you think you're doing boy! Are you trying to get us killed?"

The angry Dwarf yanked him up and started to push him back to the camp.

"You're done searching now."

Back at the camp the rest of the gathering were waiting for them, and they did not look happy.

"We heard yelling." The dark-haired dwarf, who always had an air of superiority around him, said.

Dwalin pushed Nico forwards roughly. "That would be the necromancer. He found something in the fields."

"Let me see that." The Dwarf leader said, while holding out his hand expectantly.

"No." Nico clutched the satchel tightly to his chest. He knew he sounded like a bratty kid, but that was not his main concern right now.

"What do you mean no?" It sounded like a warning, but Nico didn't care. This was Will's stuff and he'll be damned if he let anyone take it.

"I mean no, I won't let you mess around with it with your colossal fingers. There are fragile things in it. Besides it's just a medic bag, nothing of interest to you."

"We will decide whether or not or is of any interest _necromancer_. No hand it over!"

A white-haired dwarf with two twisted braids in his beard pushed his way to the front and looked directly at Nico. That was strange since they normally wouldn't look at him at all.

"Best hand it over boy. I know a thing or two about medicine myself, so I could look it through for you and decide if you should be allowed to keep it. There could be something useful in it."

The last part was mostly added for the sake of the rest of the company, so they too had something invested in this. Medicine was expensive and not something they would come about anytime soon.

Nico thought it over but decided that this would be his best chance to keep the satchel without a fight. He slowly held it out to the old dwarf.

"I'm gonna be right beside you the whole time." He both informed and warned.

The two sat down next to the fire to look through Will's things. The dwarf, who had been so kind to actually give Nico his name, was Oin. A half deaf old dwarf with a modest knowledge of healing. He had gaped when opened the satchel.

"It's bigger on the inside."

Nico had to fight back a smile. "Of course, there wouldn't be space enough for everything if it wasn't. But that's not really relevant right now is it?"

The old dwarf grumbled something about how they were going to talk about magic bags later.

The first thing he pulled out of the bag was some fresh herps Will and Nico had picked yesterday. It felt like a really long time ago.

Oin continued to pull things out and Nico explained them the best he could.

"What kind of silver is this?"

"It's tin foil. It's used to packed stuff in."

The dwarf carefully unfolded the tin foil and revealed something that looked like a lemon cake. Nico cheered a little on the inside when he saw it but was quick to warn the dwarf about it.

"It's very important that you don't eat that."

"Isn't it a desert?"

"No, it's ambrosia the food of the gods. It will burn you from the inside." He would definitely be killed if one of the idiots ate the cake by accident and died.

Oin narrowed his eyes at Nico "Why do you have that in a medic bag?"

"It will heal people like me, if we eat a little bit. It would kill me too if I took too much of it."

"People like you… do you mean necromancers?"

"Yeah something like that."

"How many of you are there?"

"Just me, I think. I have never met anyone else who could raise the dead." Nico broke a piece of the ambrosia off and tossed it in his mouth. The effects were immediate, and it felt so wonderful Nico almost moaned. His wounds started to close, and his headache faded. It tasted like homemade hot chocolate, but Nico had no idea why. He had been told it would taste like something from a fond memory, but he could not remember where he has tasted this before.

Oin raised a brow. "That works fast." He observed before he continued the conversation. "What about the one who taught you the dark arts?"

"Nah Minos was a major asshole, but he could not do the same things I can. He showed up after I summoned some skeletons by accident the first time."

"How do you summon the dead by accident?" The old dwarf sounded skeptical, but Nico merely shrugged.

"I was just a kid at that time, I had no control at all."

"You're still just a kid."

"Yeah well a smaller kid then. I didn't even know it was me who did it. I thought it was my cousin who brought them there."

"What did you do then?"

"I ran away as fast as I could. I was terrified." He let Oin laugh a little before suggesting they moved on.

Will really horded everything medicine related so it took some time to get through, with Oin commenting on everything from aspirin to Will's scalpel set, which were confiscated. Nico explained everything as well as he could, but there were still a lot of things that he didn't know what did, and the small letters on the bottle didn't help at all. He also had to lie about a lot of things. Will did have some dangerous stuff like snake venom in his bag.

Oin reported everything back to his leader, in a hush whisper while Nico watched them. He was looking for a sign that he would be allowed to keep Will's satchel, but it was of no use. The dark haired dwarf was as expressionless as usual. The conversation was over after a few minutes and Thorin snatched the satchel out of Oin's hand and walked towards Nico.

Nico could feel himself tense up and he iched for his sword or any other weapon. Anything not to be tied up and defenseless. The dwarf stopped in front of Nico and looked down on him with distaste.

"Don't go near the food with this." He finally said and tossed the bag on the ground in front of him and walk away.

"I wouldn't have done that anyway. I'm not much of a cook." Nico said sarcastically to the back of the dwarf.

Dinner was done when they finish packing up Will's satchel. It was a mix between a soup and a porridge, filled with potatoes and rabbit meat. It was not exactly a Happy Meal, but it tasted alright. Nico moved a little closer to the fire and tossed the remainder of his meal in with a prayer to the gods. '_Apollo watch over your son and keep him safe. Please let your light guide me to him_'. The smoke rose a little higher and Nico thought it smelled a bit more pleasant. Hopefully it was a sign that his prayer was heard.

He would give his father a proper prayer later when he was alone.

"Is the food not to your liking _Necromancer_." The dwarf who had made dinner asked. The way they snarled necromancer made Nico's stomach turn.

"The food was fine."

"Why did you toss it in the fire then? Is it for some kind of spell?!"

Nico sighed. He could barely scratch his neck without them accusing him of trying to attack them.

"No, it was just an offering to the gods."

"Why are you offering to the gods?"

"You can't just pray to them without giving them a form of payment."

"What are you praying for." The evil Dumbledore asked from the other side of the fire. Nico's face still stung from when his spell had tried to rip him apart, even after he had eaten the ambrosia.

"That's a bit personal don't you think?" He answered sourly. That earned him a hard pull on his leash.

"You answer all our questions without speaking back, monster." Dwalin barked at him. This one was the first Nico would beat up, if he got the chance. That thought made him a bit happier in a sadistic kind of way, and he would have coated himself in these thoughts, would have used them as a shield, if it weren't for Bianca's warning about holding grudges. Nico sighed heavily. It was difficult to let his hatred for these people go, they had hurt him and kept him for Will, but they did not seem completely evil. They seemed to believe they were doing the right thing by capturing him and they whole heartily believed that he was the evil one. But Nico couldn't stop a grudge from forming just because they thought they were in the right. He could keep the violent thoughts down but his hatred for these vile men kept on burning.

"I prayed for Will's safety, alright? Is that so horrible?" His answer seemed to shock his audience and Nico got a bitter taste in his mouth. They really grinded his gears with their steel-studded conviction that he was a heartless creature.

"You pray for someone else when you are in this situation?" Gandalf asked.

"I know you think I am some kind of monster, but Will's my friend and his safety is my main concern right now."

A redhaired dwarf huffed in disbelief.

"I don't believe you. Tis' is a ploy to make us think you are capable of feeling a sense of companionship."

"Whatever. Can we just stop talking about it? You don't believe me anyway."

Nico turned away before they could say anything. He had to shove all his violent thoughts down that had returned with new founded strength.

Night was slowly falling before Nico felt he had calmed down. The dwarves were slowly going to sleep and only a few where left around the fire, when Nico called out to the old wizard who was smoking his pipe again.

"Hey Santa Clause, you have my things, right?"

"My name is Gandalf boy, I suggest you use it." The old man didn't even look at him while he lectured him. He just continued turning his smoke into animal shapes for his own amusement and something inside Nico just snapped

"You want me to use your name, when you don't call me anything other than boy and _necromancer_? That is so typical for adults! You expect respect from everyone just because you're older, while you treat them like dirt. Respect is something you have to earn, no matter who you are _old man_. And you have done nothing respect worthy since I met you_._" Nico haven't planned to say all that, but the wizard was such a hypocrite that it just flew out of him. Oh how he hated authority figures and their whole 'better then you' attitude.

"You are very angry for one so young." Gandalf observed gravely.

"How would you feel if you got kidnaped, tied up, beaten and treated like a rabid dog?" Nico's stand-offish attitude fell flat before the stoic wizard, who just stroked his beard thoughtfully. The silence stretched for a long time and was only interrupted by the crackling fire. Nico lost hope that the wizard would speak, and he felt the bitter taste of disappointment. He didn't even know why he bothered asking in the first place

before he asked. "What is it you want?"

"I already told you that! I want to find Will and go home."

"No, before when you asked for your things."

"Oh um, you should have a small black figure of a man. It was in my pocket when you kidnapped me. That and a coin."

"What do you need it for?" The wizard asked without commenting on the kidnap remark.

"Another offering."

Gandalf lifted a bushy eyebrow.

"You are very religious."

"Not normally, but this is kind of a special situation." Nico tried to gesture around him, but only managed to sprat his bound hands a little.

Gandalf sighed and stuffed his hand into one of his many pockets.

"One more offering can't hurt." He said and handed Nico the things he asked for. "Don't go out of sight."

Nico sat by himself a little way from the camp. Not even Dwalin was watching him like a hawk at the moment. He was snoring away by the fire, with the rope tied around his wrist, just in case. Asshole. Nico had ducked a hole and was now gathering the nerve to put the last thing his sister ever gave him in that hole.

"Father, I have never needed your help more than now. Please tell me what to do." He whispered out into the darkness. Nico waited a long time but the was no answer. "If you can't talk to me, then please just watch over me." And then a heartbeat later. "Dad." He tightened his grip around the small figurine of his father for a moment before he gently laid it in the hole with the gold coin. "To Hades."

"I thought you burned your offerings." A voice suddenly said.

Nico jumped up and gripped after the sword that wasn't by his side anymore.

"Holy Hera where did you come from?!" he practically yelled. His pulse was going a mile per minute. Adrenaline was pumping through his body, expecting a fight, but it was just the small man who stood in front of his. The least threatening of all his kidnappers.

"Sorry I didn't mean to frighten you." He said while he looked a little smug that he had been able to sneak up on the necromancer. Nico was tempted to deny that he had been frighten, but his reaction had been a little to loud for that to work, so he settled on a "Whatever" and crossed his arms.

"So why are you not burning it?"

"Huh?"

"Your offering?"

"Oh, this is for a deferent god." Nico said dismissively and went back to filling the hole again. But the hobbit didn't seem to take the hint.

"What god gets his offerings through the ground?"

"Hades king of the Underworld, god of the dead."

The hobbit was lost for words when he heard that, and Nico smirked. "That seems more like what a proper necromancer would worship right?" He asked the small man.

"I suppose so." He leaned over to look at the things Nico was burring. "I though you would have sacrificed something living… or someone to a god like that." He said nervously.

"Nah, the underworld is already filled with millions and millions of dead, why would he want more? Besides this has far more value than some random person's soul."

"A coin and a toy?" The smaller man said skeptical.

"Yeah sentimental value anyway, and that still counts."

The hobbit still looked doutfull but didn't press him on the matter. "I suppose it is better than offering living things."

Nico didn't answer and was hoping the strange man would go away, but he seemed to have realized that Nico wasn't that scary and therefore didn't deem it necessary to move.

"Why do the toy and the coin mean so much to you?"

"Why do everyone keep asking me personal questions?" It had been a very long and difficult day, so Nico may have snapped a bit angrier than he should at the hobbit. The tone scared the little man who was quick to get to his feet again.

"Sorry I didn't mean to prude." He mumbled and turned to leave.

Nico felt the pang of regret at the frightened look the hobbit wore. The small man hadn't been hateful or violent against him like the rest of the party. He hadn't called him names or glared at him when ever he was near. The Hobbit had in fact been sort of nice and actively sought him out to chat. Nico signed deeply. He knew he had to make up for his bad behavior.

"The figurine was a gift from my older sister." He told the hobbit before he was to far away to hear him. The small man looked back but didn't turn completely around, so Nico continued. "It was the last thing she got me before she died."

That got the other man to face him and carefully moving closer again.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Nico still hadn't learned the proper response to that, so he just mumbled a quiet 'don't mention it'

They stood together for a while and looked at the freshly ducked grave for the offering.

"Thank you for cleaning my wounds." Nico told the hobbit.

"I was just doing what I was told?"

"Yeah but still thank you."

The hobbit gave Nico a hesitant half smile. "You're welcome then. I suppose."

A new voice interrupted the moment. "It's time for you to sleep _boy_. And know that we will be keeping a watch trough the night." It was the redheaded dwarf who had founded them. He threw a blanket at Nico with a little more force than necessary. "I would have let you sleep on the ground, but Gandalf insisted that you should be allowed this small comfort."

"How generous." Nico muttered before being yanked to his feet and showed towards the sleeping dwarves.

As Nico hugged Will's satchel to his chest, as he lied on the ground rolled up in the blanket to keep warm. "I will find you I swear it on the river Styx. Just hold on Will I am coming." He promised in a whisper to the quiet night.


	3. Chapter 3

Nico woke the next day in panic when someone kicked him in the side. "Get up _necromancer_." The bald dwarf Dwalin spat. "Pack your things, we're moving on".

"Good morning to you too." Nico wheezed out while holding his hurting side.

"Don't play smart with me boy." Dwalin said. He kicked him again for good measure and moved on without another word.

Nico made a rude gesture at the dwarf's back before he sat up. When he looked around, he saw that everyone was packing away their bedrolls and the cooking gear and was almost ready for this day's march. They hadn't even bothered to wake him when they ate breakfast, and it didn't look like there were anything left for him. His stomach growled in protest, but Nico silenced it. It would after all, not be the first time he had gone hungry. He was brought back to the time when he was 11 and lived in the dark alleys of New York. Will said that his less than heathy eating habits from that time or lack thereof, might be the reason why he hadn't hit his final growth spurt yet. The body halts its growth when it does not get the requite energy. But there was still hope, he might still get taller if Will's diagnostics were correct.

He was ripped out of his musings when something wet and slimy hit his face. He automatically went to wipe it away before he had fully registered what had happened. It's spit, his brain helpfully informed him, someone spat on you. Nico looked up to see the attacker, more shocked than angry. He had been through a lot of abuse, but nobody had ever spat on him before.

"Get a move on necromancer!" It was the red-haired dwarf. He was one of the angrier looking dwarves in the party.

"What's your problem?!" Nico yelled.

The dwarf growled at him "You're an abomination we should have killed first chance we got. I don't know why Gandalf instead on keeping you alive."

"Perhaps he would feel bad for murdering a child."

The dwarf was silence for some time before he said with contempt. "You're no child."

He spat again, this time only at the ground, and walk away.

They had been walking for hours and Nico's feet hurt, and his throat was dry as the Sahara Desert, but he was determined not to show anymore weakness to his captures. He hadn't heard anything from his dad or any of the other gods, and he still had no idea of where he was. In general, his life just sucked right now. The dwarves were however having a merry time. They were chatting away, and some were even singing! They seemed to be far more used to hiking all day than he was.

Everything was somewhat peaceful until something poked him in the heel and made him stumble. A laughter could be heard from behind him as he landed face first on the dirt road. It was two of the younger dwarves, a blond and a brown-haired with a short beard. They were both laughing but the brown-haired was holding a long walking stick he obviously used to trip Nico with, so he was the one Nico turned his glare to.

"Something's wrong with your feet necromancer?" the dwarf asked smugly.

"No. But if you do that again there might end up being something wrong with your neck." Nico growled. It was an idle threat, Nico wouldn't hurt someone just for being a jerk, but the young dwarf still turned white.

"You can't do anything to us, you're bound and watched all day." He said shakingly.

"Oh, you think this robe make me harmless?" Nico forced the shadows to grow bigger and darker around him and the greenery started to wither around him. "You don't know half of what I can do." He only meant to scare them a bit, but he could feel his hold of his powers slip. They seemed to have gotten stronger and wilder. The shadows crept closer to the two dwarves who backed away with panicked steps. It was getting colder and the warm rays of the sun seemed like a faded memory. The shadows started to move up the legs on the dwarves, and Nico could see that he had succeeded in scaring them. They were shaking and jumping around now to get rid of the snake-like shadows. The other dwarves in the back looked frightened at him to now, but some of the effect was ruined when Dwalin lifted Nico from the ground by the back of his shirt and punched him in the stomach. Nico lost all his air, and the shadows disappeared like mist for the sun in an instant.

"If you try that again I swear I'll kill you boy, you hear me?!" Dwalin shook him hard with every word so his teeth rattled. Nico just coughed and gasped to get his breath again.

"What are you doing master Dwalin?" Gandalf was hurrying down the line to see what was making all the promotion. "Put him down!"

"He was using magic to try and kill Fili and Kili!"

"Did you hear him utter a spell?"

"No, he didn't say anything."

The old wizard looked troubled. "That means he's more dangerous than we thought."

Nico could have facepalmed himself. How could he had been so stupid? It was dumb and impulsive to try and intimidate them, and now he had to try to sort out this mess before they decided he was too much of a risk too be kept alive. He really had to learn to control himself.

"I was just trying to scare them a little, so they would leave me alone." Nico muttered.

The grey wizard looked gravely at Dwalin and the other dwarves around them. "You have my permission to kill him, if he ever cast a spell again. Do you hear that boy?"

Nico nodded while he grinded his teeth. It was so tempting to just shadowtravel away from them, but he had to stay put. The gods had drop him near them for a reason. They must have or else he had a snowflakes chance in hell at finding Will!

"I would suggest you keep your mouth shut or they might mistake you for casting a spell. Do you understand me."

Nico nodded again.

Getting howled through a fight tied to an angry dwarf was _not_ a pleasant experience. Nico would almost place it on his top ten list of bad things he had tried. The worst part was that he didn't even have a weapon to defend himself with. Why did bad things always happen to him? They had been traveling somewhat peacefully through the forest, when they walk directly into a trap. It was the creatures that was hunting the Oakenshild party, that had caught up. They were big and ugly just like the monsters at home, but these did not try to blend in with society. The first sign of an attack had been an arrow aimed right at the Dwarf leader. His quick reflexes saved him, as he jumped out of the way.

"THORIN!" The wizard yelled. So that's his name, Nico thought while looking for more danger to avoid, that only took two days to get to know.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK" One of the dwarves bellowed as he drew his axe. Great big monsters with malformed faces ran down hills surrounding the rode.

The dwarves and Gandalf were amazing fighters, even Dwalin who had to tuck Nico along with him. They were a lot nimbler and more acrobatic than their size would indicate. They ducked, rolled and sprang round their bigger opponents. Dwalin was raging and Nico had a hard time following him. He was wielding dual axes and slashed open more stomachs then Nico could count. The dwarf was in such a battle rage that he didn't sense the world around him. But Nico saw the big fugly guy who were aiming a flaming tree truck at them. Talk about over kill.

"We have to run right now!" He yelled to his capture.

"Coward!" the dwarf spat. "I will never run from a fight."

The fugly guy was readying his throw, and Nico had to take drastic measures.

"Arg Hades have mercy." He prayed as he tackled the dwarf into the shadow of a tree.

He was surrounded by the familiar shadows trying to ripe his face off. Ah… The comfort of shadow-traveling. It was cold as they glided trough the dark and all around them the shadows whispered to them. "Join us…. Give up… join us." Nico had learned to ignore them a long time ago, but he could feel the dwarf gripping his arm painfully in panic. It was however only a short trip and soon after they started to materialize out in the sun again. Nico barely had time to gather his bearings before a fist collided with his face and he feel to the ground.

"What the hell did you do _necromancer?!" _Dwalin yelled. He was barring his fist and looked ready to murder someone, most likely him.

Nico dried some blood of his face with the back of his hand. "We shadow traveled."

"Where did you take me?!"

"Look around you, dumbass. We're on the other side of the road."

The fighting was dying out, and the rest of the monsters were running away, with some of the dwarves running after then to finish them off. The road was muddy with the blood of the fallen, but none from the party seemed to be seriously injured. Bilbo was facing the last fighting enemy. He was sloppy with his attacks and it was a wonder that he even hit the creature.

Dwalin looked around and froze when he saw where they had been standing before. The burning tree truck had crushed the body of the monster he had been fighting with and its gore was splatted everywhere. Some parts of it was even hanging from the threes beside the road and forming a large pool of blood underneath it. Nico and the dwarf would have faced a similar death, had Nico not moved them in time.

"You saved me…" The dwarf slowly realized.

Nico was pinching his nose, trying to stop the blood. "Yeah sorry about that. Next time I'll think twice before doing something stupid like that. It's clearly not appreciated." He could feel his face swelling up and knew he would get a black eye. Damn the dwarves for having such big hands that they could break his nose and give him a black eye in one hit.

The dwarf frowned "You should watch your words boy. I was going to thank you."

Nico was quick to reply. "Like a verbal thank you would do me any good. If you really wanna show your gratitude, then stop aiming for the face when you hit me!" It was getting harder to breath and Nico knew he had to do something about his nose. Normally Will would be there to help him, but here he was one his own. He grabbed it with both his hands and took a deep breath. "Hey what do you think you're doing?" the dwarf asked just before Nico moved his hands to the right and yanked his nose in place again. You could hear a crunching and Nico cursed. It hurt worst to set it right again. Hot tears sprang to his eyes but breathing came easier again, so he must have done something right.

"You could have gotten somebody else to do that for you."

"I think you've done enough for my face already. I want people to be able to recognize me when I get back home."

The other man snorted at the idea of Nico ever going home again, but he did not comment on his optimism. Instead he sat down next to the young boy by the side of the road. The dwarf offered Nico his waterskin, which he took hesitatingly. He poured a little into his hand and washed his face before he drank greedily. They hadn't offered him water since morning and his head was pounding.

"Have you been able to travel like that all this time?"

Nico just shrugged mostly because every breathe still felt like fire and he knew it would hurt to talk.

"Why haven't you just left then?"

"I thought about it, but it's too much of a risk."

"Why is that?"

"It makes me tiered. I can sleep for days after longer trips, even this short one made me dizzy." Nico gazed up upon the sky. "And I am not leaving without Will."

"You don't have to stay with us to find him."

"No, but I believe it was the gods that lead us together. People you meet by coincidence normally fall in to one of two categorize where I am from. Most want to kill you or eat you, or sometimes both. But those who don't eventually end up being useful. And since you haven't killed me yet, I might as well stick around."

"So you're still here because you think we could be useful?"

"I think it was fate that made me land near you, and that you are going to bring me to Will somehow." Nico said with confidence.

"You are a strange creature." Dwalin said bewildered.

"Maybe but at least I'm not a dwarf." The man beside him didn't know how to react to the joke, so Nico moved on before he decided to be offended. "Don't you think we could remove the rope, now that you know I can leave any time I want? It doesn't really have a purpose anymore."

The dwarf stretched his beard. "I could ask Thorin, tell him what you did. But don't get your hopes up, he does not like you very much."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You don't say Sherlock"

The older man rose. "Call me Dwalin… Master Di'Angelo."

It took the dwarf half an hour to get ready to move on. They had to clean their weapons and bind their wounds and shake off the shock of battle.

"Filli, Killi." Dwalin called to two of the younger dwarves. "Look after the kid while I talk to Thorin." The older dwarf handed Nico's leash over to the blond before he even got a chance to protest. The two dwarves looked so lost Nico almost laughed. They had no idea how to handle this situation. The blond must have realized this because he puffed out his chest and tried to make himself look bigger while he gave Nico a warning. "We won't hesitate to incapacitate you if you try anything again necromancer." The way he said necromancer lacked the same bite as when the older dwarves said it, and it earned him some unwilling good points in Nico's book, but he was still on the list of people he did not like.

"Don't poke me again and we'll get along just fine."

"What is the River Sticks?" The brown-haired dwarf asked after they had been walking for a while.

"What?"

"River Sticks. You whispered it for yourself last night."

"It called Styx not sticks, and it is the river that separates the land of the living and the land of the dead."

"That seems like an odd thing to swear on."

"Not at all. It's the most binding oath you can make, in my religion anyway. You will be cursed if you break a promised you have sworn on Styx. Bad things will happen, and it will most likely end in a very painful death." Nico was so surprised they talked to him that he forgot to be angry for a minute. He would have expected them to hate him for what he did to them earlier, but it seemed that their curiosity got the better of them. They were wary of him but not fearful, which Nico had to admit actually was nice.

"And you willingly swore on this, even if it can lead to your death?"

"Nothing Styx can throw at me will be worse than not finding Will, not even death." Nico said gravely.

One of the other dwarves who clearly had been eavesdropping turned and asked skeptically.

"You would throw away your life if you can't find your friend?" It was the one with the silly hat who asked. Nico had noticed him before, since he sang the loudest when they walked. He also hadn't been one of the dwarves who spat or abused Nico. At least not yet Nico thought grimly.

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

"But what if you don't find him? What if he's dead?"

Nico scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Aren't you a ray of sunshine." They walk a bit in silence before Nico said "I'll find him even if he died. I'm a necromancer after all, as you're so fond of pointing out."

"You will bring him back to life!?" Kili asked with wide eyes. "You can do that?"

"No, I'm not gonna cheat the god of the dead for a soul that belongs to him." _Not again anyway, I don't think dad would like that. _"But I can make sure he's going to spend his afterlife somewhere nice, and then I'll join him when my time has come."

"Stop talking beast!" The angry red-headed dwarf suddenly yelled before turning to the three younger dwarves who had started the conversation. "Is your head filled with dirt?! The necromancer is not allowed to talk."

"He wasn't harming anyone." Kili protested quietly but he looked a bit ashamed of being caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do.

"He could have." The older dwarf grunted. He turned to Nico with an evil glint in his eyes. "The wizard did give us his permission to kill you if you spoke again."

"That's not what he said!" Nico shouted outraged. "It was only if I did magic or some shit like that!"

"Which you can do when you speak!" The dwarf shouted back while gripping his axe. He had completely missed the point of the wizard's warning, and Nico couldn't figure out if it was on purpose or if this man was just very stupid.

"Hold your fire master dwarf." Gandalf said as he came over to them with Dwalin and Thorin in tow. "The boy owns us an explanation first."

**AN: Uhh cliffhanger. What do you think will happen next? Don't worry you will not have to wait for long before the next chapter is out. I'm sent home from my school and internship, so I don't have that much to do beside writing. I have started a new story call "The demon" it's an AU starring Nico and Will (of course they are my OTP). Give it a try if you feel like it :) **

**Please tell me is you think I write anyone too OOC. I'll try to fix it if I do. **

**Please take care everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

"_Hold your fire master dwarf." Gandalf said as he came over to them with Dwalin and Thorin in tow. "The boy owns us an explanation first."_

Nico hold his head up defiantly as the three older men marched towards him. They weren't going to see him cover, especially not for saving someone. He looked to Dwalin, the dwarf he saved, and saw that he was nervous. It was not obvious, but Nico saw how he clenched and unclenched his hands and shifted from foot to foot.

"So you have been able to flee all this time?"

Nico nodded uncertainly.

"Why do you stay then?"

Nico did not have the time to answer before Thorin angrily gestured to him.

"He's a spy that's why. He has found the perfect hiding spot."

"Why would I spy on you? You just fourteen homeless dwarves and an old man wandering around. What's so important about you?" Nico eyed the furious dwarf with disgust. "I'm here because you're my best option for finding Will. I have to believe that the gods placed my in your path for a reason or else a stand a slowballs chance in Tartarus at finding him! That's the only reason why I'm still here, even though you're all a bunch of abusive assholes with superior complexes!"

Nico's voice got louder and louder until he was yelling the last part. He had to take a couple of calming breaths before he could continue. He could feel a plan starting to bud and he needed a clear head if he wanted to succeed.

"But now you know I can leave at anytime I want and why I haven't done it yet, so the big question is what are you going to do about it?" He hurried on before they could answer his question. "The way I see it, you just want me around to keep an eye on me, and make sure I don't do any 'evil necromancer stuff'." Nico tried to make air quotes the best he could with his tied-up hands. The gesture clearly confused his listeners, but no one had time to ask about it as Nico carried on.

"You could kill me to get rid of your problem quickly, I'm sure many of you would support that idea." He said darkly while eying the homicidal red-headed dwarf and Thorin who looked like he could get behind that suggestion. "But I'll warn you, if any of you come anywhere near me right now, then I'll disappear and who ever is holding on to my leash right now will get the pleasure of coming along and getting dumped somewhere in the shadows. You can ask Dwalin here if that's a place you would want to get lost." The dwarves all looked angry now that Nico had made his threat, even the ones who had been somewhat neutral before now. Somewhere in the back Bilbo looked scared and slightly betrayed as if Nico owned him anything, just because they had a kind of nice chat the other day. Nico turned his eyes away from the hobbit and shoved him out of his mind. He would have to be careful and tread lightly now if he wanted to avoid a fight.

"But I'm sure we can find a solution we can all tolerate if you just think about this logically. I've been with you for days even though I could leave, and I haven't harmed any of you even though I could also have done that, justifiably after all you done to me. I haven't done that though because I don't think you're evil, just idiots who thinks they're doing the right thing. But I'm tired of all that, so I have an ultimatum for you. Ether you stop with the beatings and the leash and I'll come with you peacefully or I'll leave right now. What do you say?"

Nico directed the question to Gandalf, who he hoped would be the most reasonable of the group. He really hoped they would fall for his bluff, because at the moment he was to drained to travel farther then a few miles away, and even then he would have to sleep for a day at the least, in a unknown perhaps dangerous place. It wasn't optimal.

"You drive a hard bargain boy."

"Let's just kill him." The red-headed dwarf grumbled.

The old wizard got a hard look in his eyes and Nico cold feel his insides turning cold.

"We have no reason to trust you necromancer. You could kill us in our sleep."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I can do that even when I'm tied up. These robes are kinda useless."

"Is that supposed to get us to trust you?"

"No it supposed to get you to use your heads! Arg this is pointless, nothing I say will change your minds." Nico started to draw the shadows to him. "This have been really awful, and I honestly hope I never see any of you again." With that he yanked his leash fast and hard and made Fili who hold him stumble into the polling shadows with him.

Thorin was burning with rage. The little monster had taken his nephew and fled. They had already searched for an hour, calling out Fili's name, without any luck. He knew exactly who to blame for this mess.

"This is your fault wizard! We should have killed the creature when we had the chance, but you had to defend him!"

"He's a kid Thorin. I will not let us become child-murderers; nothing can justify that."

"He has warped your mind Gandalf, can't you see that? He takes advantage of your soft heart."

"Will you stop your quarrel! It does nothing to help us find Fili." Kili yelled at the two older men.

The young dwarven prince was more concerned than anyone else. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his older brother. The mere though made his insides turn and twist like a bundle of snakes.

"You're right my lad." Gandalf told him with a sad smile. "We should continue with our search."

Thorin gave a curt nod to Kili before he stormed off.

They hadn't looked for much longer before Bilbo spoke up. "Someone's coming our way." He said and pointed down the road. The sun was setting behind the person, big and red, so only the silhouette was visible. The party tensed up, getting ready to defend themselves. Their nerves were all worn down by the day's events. They all jumped when an axe hit the ground with a loud thud. It was Kili who had thrown his weapon down, before he started running towards the figure.

"Fili!" He yelled excitedly. The Silhouette started running as well, and the two brothers met in a crushing hug while they laughed out loud.

"Why are you so happy brother? I haven't been gone for long, but you act like it has been years."

"We thought the necromancer killed you lad." Thorin told his nephew as the rest of the party caught up with the two young dwarves.

Fili's laughter died out and he turned thoughtful and somber.

"No he hauled me into the whispering shadows, and I did think I would die or go mad, but then the light broke though and we were in the middle of the road."

"Did you kill him then?" Gloin asked darkly.

Fili blushed a little embarrassed. "No, I uh wasn't feeling well after being exposed to his dark magic and he took advantage of that to take one of my knives and my water skin. I thought he would slit my throat then, but he just pointed down the road and told my we haven't traveled far, it would not take me long to find you again. And he was right."

"So nothing else happened?" Gandalf asked uncertainty.

"He apologized for kidnapping me." Fili told them, sounding somewhat like he himself couldn't believe his own words. "And then he melted into the shadows again."

"What a strange creature." Gandalf mused. "Well we're not going any further today, so we might as well set camp for the night."

Thorin was having a very strange dream. He was standing on a hill looking down on camp filled with children running around with weapons, but none of them looked scared, in fact he could hear many of them laughing to loud with glee.

"Huh" a young voice to his left said. "I thought I had found Nico."

Thorin turned around and drew his sword in one fluid motion. The boy he was pointing it at did not look the slightest bit faced by his hostility. He did in fact look rather tired. The most bizarre part of the situation was that the newcomer was wearing some kind of nightgown.

"You know the necromancer?!"

Brown eyes blinked tiredly at him.

"The necromancer huh? You don't sound like you like him very much." The boy yawned.

"He is a creature of evil!"

"He's no more evil than you and me."

"Do not compare me to that filth!"

The boy blinked slowly a few times before he robed his eyes, and mustered up enough energy to pierce Thorin with an angry look.

"You know you should be nicer to him; he's been through a lot." The boy drank from a mug that Thorin could have sworn wasn't there before. It was almost comical to see the boy glare at him while slurping the sweetly smelling drink.

"I do not care for his previous deeds."

"Nico is my friend and I will warn you, if you don't treat him nicer then I will make sleeping a very uncomfortable experience for you."

The dwarf King sized up the boy. He looked like a baby cow with his blond hair and wedge-shaped head and gentle, bovine face. He had thick features and a thick neck. His body was stocky but with spindly little arms, like he hasn't lifted anything but a pillow. He did not strike a very impressive figure.

"You dare threaten me?"

The boy smiled sardonically.

"I may not look like much, but I have more power over you then you can imagen."

He looked around at the small houses and the armored children with a sad smile, before he made a hand gesture like he was swiping away a fly.

Their surrounding started to shift like paint in water, vanishing to abstract colored shapes, before they started to reassemble themselves in a new way, and Thorin found himself in the middle of a familiar nightmare, the day Smaug attacked his rightfully home. Everywhere people were running away screaming, and fire were raining from the sky. The smell of burnt flesh hit his nose and almost made him gag. It all felt so real.

"I could bring you back here every night if I wanted." The boy, who Thorin now was sure was a dream demon, stood by his side and calmly drank from his mug.

Thorin didn't even think as he ran his sword through the boy in anger. The boy however only blinked his brown eyes and looked down at the sword now planted in his stomach.

"I'm not really here, you know that right?" The blond yawned again, and this time it started to affect the king under the mountain. The sword felt heavy in his hands and it was difficult to keep his eyes open. The will to fight slowly ebbed out of him. Thorin felt his fingers grow weak and he dropped his sword. It fell right through the demon and hit the ground without a sound.

Small hands carefully dusted off the nightgown where the sword had been and flattened the wrinkles. He then looked at Thorin with his head slightly tilted in contemplating.

"Perhaps I should show you where we come from. It could be a better way to get you to understand."

Their surroundings shifted again, before Thorin could protest and this time they ended in a small room full of angry people. Most were sitting around a green square table, but some were standing along the walls since there were no more seats. The dream demon was looking at a young girl with skin darker than any Thorin had ever seen. She was hiding her face in her hands, but he could see by the way her shoulder shook that she was crying. A large boy with dark hair was trying to comfort her.

"That's Hazel, Nico's sister."

They looked at the crying girl in silence for a moment before the boy turned around and looked at two people arguing. One was a young man with green eyes and black hair and the other was a girl with short ginger hair dyed with a shock of bright green. To call it arguing was understating the situation. They both looked ready to throw punches.

"That's Percy, Nico's cousin and Kayla, Will's sister."

"Why are they fighting?" Thorin hadn't meant for the question to slip out, but the situation was just so odd.

"They're not really fighting. They are just worried and don't know what to do, so they take it out on each other."

The boy looked at him right in the eyes now, and he suddenly didn't seem so meek. It was like he was surrounded by a powerful aura.

"Tell Nico to stop looking for me. I'll come to him. If you do that and stop antagonize him, then I'll let you sleep peacefully. I'll even make sure you mostly have pleasant dreams."

"I do not know where the boy went!" Thorin protested.

"Well then you'll just have to find him. I'm not going to leave you alone until you have delivered the message. I'll leave you alone for now, but I'll be back tomorrow night all right?"

The dream started to slip away but the boy's threat hunted Thorin's sleep the rest of the night.

**A/N: Hello all my beautiful readers! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I am sorry it took so long for me to write :( I thought I would have plenty of time to write with all this covid stuff going on, but it turns out I just got depressed and lost all motivation by staying at home all day long. But I got better (somewhat) and inspiration struck me again now that my day is back to normal. **

**I want to thank everyone who took the time to write a review. You guys are the best and I love you 3**

**I hope everyone has a great day and you stay safe!**

**Skyggedrage **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Nico tracked though the forest without any destination. He had no clue where he was going or how he was supposed to find Will. No gods had giving him any sign, nor had he dreamt something useful. It was just the same old nightmares that ran on repeat in his slumber. It all seemed very hopeless at the moment, but there was nothing he could do about it but keep setting one foot in front of another. He had to remind himself that he had been through worse and had come out on top. It became a mantra as he kept walking and walking and walking.

"_Everything will be alright. I going to find Will and get us home. We have been through worse. We have survived more than one war. Everything will be alright."_

Nico had slept most of today away after shadow-traveling twice yesterday, it was already late in the afternoon. For once he had been lucky and no one had disturbed his sleep. He had used the last of his strength to find a hiding place between some bushes, it was well hidden and dry, but he had woken up with leaves and twitches everywhere, not to mention bugs. That had been hours ago. He had walk for what felt like hundreds of miles and his stomach was eating him up from the inside. It let out a loud growl now that he thought of it. He hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and it was beginning to wear on him. It was still summer so the bushes were filled with berries, but the plants in this place were not all the same as the ones back home, so he did not know which were edible, and he did not want to risk getting poisoned. That would just be the top of an all-around shitty situation and with his luck he was destined to pick the one deadly berry there was in this place. Oh how he missed New York and her fast food restaurants at every corner. He could really go for a Happy Meal right now.

A loud roar interrupted his thoughts of food. Nico swirled around and held up the dagger he had taken from Fili. It was a fine blade about the length of his palm to his fingertips, but it still looked like a toothpick next to the grizzly whose territory he had unknowingly entered.

Nico knew that the grizzly bear was the largest bear that existed and that it could weigh up to 900 lb. He knew this because he had been to a national park with Will, Frank and his sister this summer. Their tour guide had been very informative and had told them that if they ever encountered a bear in the wild the most important thing was to stay calm and back away slow. "Don't try to run away" she had told them with a big smile, "that would make you look like prey, and bears are, despise their size, very fast runners". It had been a fun and interesting day and they had seen plenty of bears from the tour bus. They had even joked that bears couldn't be that much of a challenge for someone who had faced giants, they looked so cuddly and cute with their round ears.

Nico didn't feel like joking anymore. Seeing bears from the safety of a tour bus, did not prepare him for standing face to face with one. This one was neither cute or cuddly, in fact it looked angry and downright murderous as it bared its teeth at him in warning. He tried to do as the nice tour lady had told them, and took a careful step back, while keeping his eyes on the grizzly. He had to slowly drop Will's medical bag in fear of it getting in his way when he ran. He could always come back for it later he reasoned with himself. Nothing happened and Nico carefully took another step, but this time the bear reacted. It lunged for him with a paw the size of a frying pan and Nico had to jump out of its way, the bear was much faster than he had imagined it would be. He could see that there was no walking slowly away from this one, and he was too drained to shadow-travel away. He would have to fight back.

Nico had to think fast as the bear charged at him again. He spend the next seconds jumping, duking and sidestepping to avoid the bears giant paws and salivating jaws. He knew he had to get away from the bear's front if he wanted any chance at surviving.

A tree hit his back and suddenly he had caught between a rock and a hard place. The time of dodging was over. The bear swung after him again, but this time Nico jump forward, into the bears space. This clearly took the bear by surprise as it didn't even snap after him, before Nico rolled between its front leg and in under its belly. Nico tried to stab the grizzly in the abdomen, but the fur there was so thick he could barely get through it. He managed to gaze it with the tip of his knife which only seemed to make the bear angrier. Another roll got Nico out from under the bear, just in time for it to spin around and face him again. It attacked him again with its deadly sharp claws, but this time Nico was ready for it. He had seen that it favored its right paw, so he ran to its left side and jumped on the grizzly's furry back.

He had timed the jump perfectly and countless hours on the rock wall back at camp had given him a strong grip. Nico swung one leg over the back, so he was riding the bear like a horse, before he quickly buried the knife hilt deep in the grizzly's neck with as much force as he could muster up.

The brown bear roared in pain and tried to snap after him, but it could not reach him. Nico had to lean out of its way when the bear's teeth came to close but was otherwise somewhat safe riding the bear's back. Nico decided to stab the bear again in the hope of hitting its airway or a major vein.

The bear was starting to understand that it was going to get him off by biting after him, so it lifted its body, so it was standing on its hindlegs. Nico had to bury his left hand deep in the fur and tighten his grip on the knife to prevent falling off. But the bear wasn't planning on making him fall off. Nico realized this when the grizzly started to fall backwards, and he had to jump off to avoid being crushed beneath the massive bear. He had to move so fast that he did not have time to get his knife out of the bears neck. The earth trembled when the bear hit the ground, but it did not stay down for long. It was up again as soon as it realized there wasn't a dead human under it. The grizzly wiped its massive head from side to side while looking for Nico. Small beady black eyes soon found the demigod and it roared challenging at him. _I can't have hit anything important if it still had air to roar like that_. Nico though cynically.

The knife hilt was barely visible in the brown hair it was buried in, but Nico knew where it was, and he knew it was his only chance. So he tried the same trick as before and went to the bear's left, but his opponent was smarter then he thought. The bear shot its left paw out just as Nico took a step that way. The paw was big enough to reach all the way around Nico and the claws were buried in his back. They tore through close and skin alike as he was flung the other way. The impact itself would have been enough to knock out a normal mortal but Nico was a demigod, so he only ended up seeing stars. Nico was gasping in pain, but he could hear the bear coming closer, so he didn't have time to gather his strengths. He rolled away just as a paw swept the ground right where he had been before. He was still laying on his back, but he did not have the time to stand up. Instead he filled his hand with dirt and small stone from the forest floor and swung it into the bear's face. It got in it's eyes and the bear was temporarily blinded. It had to bring its paws up to try and get it out and Nico was not going to let that opportunity go to waste.

He shot up, quick as a snake, and grabbed the knife. He had to use two hands to try and get it out, and for a moment he thought he was to slow, when the bear blindly began to bite after him. But then the knife came lose and Nico brought it down just as the bear's snout touched him. He yelled loudly as he plumed the dagger into the bear's left eye.

The bear let out a whimpering sound as Nico pulled out the knife and readied himself to stab it again, but the grizzly had apparently had enough. It backed away a few steps before it turned around and fled, panting and bleeding.

Nico couldn't stop himself from screaming after it in victory. His yelling turned into a hysterical laughter. He had just won a fight against the biggest land-living predator with just a hunting knife! He hadn't even used his powers! He laughed and laughed until his sides were burning, and tears ran down his cheeks.

He had to sit down after his slightly manic episode as he was starting to see black spots. He sat there trying to calm his beating heart with deep breaths. First when he had calmed down just a bit did, he start to look around for Will's bag. He could really use the peace of ambrosia he knew was in there and some bandages if he didn't want to bleed out. He found it a few feet away and he crawled over to it, too tired to stand up again. The adrenaline was quickly leaving his body leaving Nico to fully feel his injuries. His right side was especially painful, and he wondered if some of the ribs were bent. There wasn't a lot he could do about it even if they were. He could only hope the food of the gods would heal them. He reached for the bag and opened it with shaking hands, taking out the tinfoil packed that contained the ambrosia.

Nico groaned in pleasure as he stuffed his mouth with so much of it that he fought he could feel himself heating up. It was first when he was too afraid of bursting into flames that he stopped. The food worked wonders and Nico could feel his wounds starting to heal. He even got enough energy back to stand up! It truly was a miracle.

Nico looked around at his surroundings. It looked like a crime-scene, his and the bear's blood were splattered all over the ground and even on some of the tree trucks. The bear had left its claw marks everywhere and the young demigod marveled again at how big it had been. He placed his hand tryingly on one of the marks the bear had carved into a tree, but his fingers could barely connect with each individual claw. It felt almost unreal that a non-magical creature could be so big.

Nico found the reason why the bear had been so aggressive when he started to look around again. Behind some trees laid a freshly killed deer. The bear had just been trying to protect its dinner. Nico shrugged for himself, before he started to part the deer. He had won the fight, so the deer was rightfully his by nature's rules, and he was starving.

…..

The meat was tasteless and chewy after being cooked over a small fire but to Nico it could just as well have been a whole feast. Tonight, he was going to sleep on a full stomach! He cooked as much as he could place in Will's magical satchel before leaving the rest for the bear to find again, should it ever come back. He then decided to move on just in case it decided to do just that.

…

Nico walked until his injuries started to hurt again and then he walked some more. It was first when the sun was almost completely gone that he let himself rest.

He crawled into some bushed in the hopes that they would keep him hidden again tonight. The brief happiness he had experienced after defeating the bear was wearing off as the temperature dropped. He was starting to freeze, and his injuries were hurting and had begun to bleed again. He had tried to wrap the wounds on his back, but it was difficult to do alone. Nico was pretty sure that it was patchy and twisted all wrong. It would have to wait until tomorrow he thought with a sigh, he was too tired at the moment to do anything about it. He only hoped the smell of his blood didn't attract any animals.

It didn't make it better that his aviator jacket and favorite black t-shirt was completely ruined. Hazel had gotten him that jacket after his old one was destroyed in the war, and the t-shirt was a birthday gift from Will. Nico could not remember having gotten many presents in his life, so he valued everything he got from someone he cared about, a bit more then he properly should. It was after all just clothing, but he still felt like killing the bear just for that.

Darkness was already beginning to fill his vision and Nico new he was about to pass out from exhaustion. It really seemed like he was trying to beat a record in how many days he can pass out in a row, which was not a price he wanted to hold. Will had at some point told him it was very unhealthy to pass out too much, that it could cause permanent damage or something like that. But that would have to be a problem for future Nico, he decided as the darkness overcame him.

….

**A/N: Hello beautiful people I hope you are all well!**

**I uploaded two chapters in the same month are you not proud of me? :D I am almost done with the next part, so I promise that it will be posted next week. **

**Leave a review and tell me what you thought of Nico's solo adventure and what you think will happen next. I love hearing from you 3 **

**I wish you have a great week and stay safe.**

**Love Skyggedrage**


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